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Last Cred Review

 Skyrush.
Oh dear, what happened here, then? Really not very good at all, is it?
I realise I didn't get to ride this in it's heyday, I realise that maybe 10 - 12 years ago this was probably peak Intamin recklessness and I understand why those that rode it back in the day have a special affection for it, but now, riding it fresh in 2024, after a decade of Blitz coasters and RMC's, I'm struggling to find many nice things to say about it. Drop is fab, but the ride feels a bit short, not really that much airtime, not particularly intense and man, those wing seats are as rough as arse. Would struggle to crack my Top 5 at Hersheypark, let alone my Top 5 overall. First big disappointment of the trip. 6/10.

That’s exactly I felt.

It’s was undoubtedly an interesting / unique development in coaster evolution, peak at what it did at the time. But having missed the hype for it at launch and carrying no sentiment for it, to me it feels significantly outclassed by the new Intamins and RMCs to the point of it being unremarkable.

‘Jank’ and ‘unfriendliness’ does have its own special appeal and Skyrush did have that in stacks with the old restraints, I suppose. The lateral body movement possible was wild and had probably ‘enabled’ some mild injuries over the years… so that’s both a ‘yay’ and a ‘boo’.

Top, top theme park. ❤️

Yes :cool:
 
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Skyrush.
Oh dear, what happened here, then? Really not very good at all, is it?
I realise I didn't get to ride this in it's heyday, I realise that maybe 10 - 12 years ago this was probably peak Intamin recklessness and I understand why those that rode it back in the day have a special affection for it, but now, riding it fresh in 2024, after a decade of Blitz coasters and RMC's, I'm struggling to find many nice things to say about it. Drop is fab, but the ride feels a bit short, not really that much airtime, not particularly intense and man, those wing seats are as rough as arse. Would struggle to crack my Top 5 at Hersheypark, let alone my Top 5 overall. First big disappointment of the trip. 6/10.

My heart broke reading this. I rode Skyrush 2 years ago and it was everything. Incredible first drop. Smooth. Buckets of airtime that would have yeeted you to Hershey. I wonder if the new restraints have had any sort of impact, or if it's just a ride which is a relic in some ways and won't cut the mustard with everyone.


I had similar thoughts about the trims on Candymonium though. However, after a re-ride, I realised that they were sort of necessary to stop the ride becoming a Skyrush II, and whilst they are noticeable, they don't actually affect the rest of the ride in a negative way.
 
My heart broke reading this. I rode Skyrush 2 years ago and it was everything. Incredible first drop. Smooth. Buckets of airtime that would have yeeted you to Hershey. I wonder if the new restraints have had any sort of impact, or if it's just a ride which is a relic in some ways and won't cut the mustard with everyone.

Yeah, I wish I could have ridden Skyrush in it's prime. I had the opportunity to come here 10 years ago when it was the newest coaster in the park, looked awesome it did, but I ditched it in favour of KD, BGW etc..
Shoulda done it when I had the chance. 😪
 
My experiences of Skyrush are also from two years ago (old restraints) - same time period as @JoshC.

Beyond the change in restraints, has there been any material change in how it has operated since it opened?

If not, then I suppose it’s a ‘marmite’ / ‘YMMV’ ride in the current era for ‘new riders’.
 
My experiences of Skyrush are also from two years ago (old restraints) - same time period as @JoshC.

Beyond the change in restraints, has there been any material change in how it has operated since it opened?

If not, then I suppose it’s a ‘marmite’ / ‘YMMV’ ride in the current era for ‘new riders’.
OPs seemed a lot slower than my prior visits, so maybe they are delaying dispatch to allow the trains wheels to recover a bit more than before.
Main thing is the restraints/train weight has changed, only thing I can think of for the decrease in speed.

As you say, the lateral body movement was insane before, now there's barely any due to the seat change.
 
I rode Skyrush last October, so just before it closed for the refurb. It absolutely tried to kill me, was so happy it was as good as I'd remembered. So good in fact that I chose to marathon the back row rather than get a night ride on the excellent Wildcats Revenge.

I'll be gutted if the new restraints have killed it!

Also, pleased to hear the recent Phoenix reviews. Best woodie in the world 😍
 
My heart broke reading this. I rode Skyrush 2 years ago and it was everything. Incredible first drop. Smooth. Buckets of airtime that would have yeeted you to Hershey. I wonder if the new restraints have had any sort of impact, or if it's just a ride which is a relic in some ways and won't cut the mustard with everyone.


I had similar thoughts about the trims on Candymonium though. However, after a re-ride, I realised that they were sort of necessary to stop the ride becoming a Skyrush II, and whilst they are noticeable, they don't actually affect the rest of the ride in a negative way.

If it makes your heart break less, I thought Skyrush was a gem for the reasons you mentioned when I rode it on June 18. These were all back row wing seat rides, 2x on left wing and 1x on right wing. I have heard that the new restraints have neutered the ride to an extent but I quiver to think what it would have been like with the old restraints if it is now neutered with the new restraints. Of the 69 (nice!) coasters I rode on my east/northeast US trip, it ranked right up there as one of the highest highlights alongside I305, Twisted Timbers, Pantheon, Wildcat's Revenge and El Toro.
 
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Silver Dollar City

first visit today! reviews in order:

Thunderation: My new favorite arrow mine train. Uses terrain remarkably well. Set a great tone for the day - no complaints. 7/10

Time Traveller:
I loved it. It reminded me of x2 in a way. Is it firmly in my top 20? Probably not, but the sensations were like nothing I've previously experienced. Spinning through the loop was probably the coolest moment. Launches could have packed a bit more punch. Second best ride in the park for me. 9/10

Outlaw Run:
My first RMC woodie. I lapped it for about an hour. Awesome ride. My only complaint is the jolt to my back at the bottom of the first drop. I learned how to brace for it after the first go, though. I was not expecting RMC ride experiences to differ so much from i-box to wood. Even with similar elements the feel is definitely unique... I won't know where this ranks until the end of the week, but it is elite. My favorite feature was the banked drop under the lift hill midway through the ride. Worth the trip on its own. 10/10.

Powder Keg
: The horizontal elevator-esque lift into launch was cool. Launch and top hat were also fun. That was about it, though. Mediocre use of the terrain and oddly banked elements, especially after experiencing the three listed above. Also, it's kind of long for no reason. No re-rides. 5/10.

Wildfire:
Disappointed, and maybe because I was pretty excited for it. I still have Incredible Hulk firmly in my top 10, and I love Kumba. Wildfire was...not that... I found the layout boring and forceless. Even the use of terrain was underwhelming. Skipped re-rides. 4/10

Fire in the hole
was posting a 90+ minute queue, so I skipped it. Unfortunately, time is a bit of a concern on this trip.

Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom tomorrow!
 
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Day at Dollywood done today. Amazing park with some stellar rides… which leads me to Lightning Rod, our first and last ride of the day.
There’s a bizarre sensation a nerd gets, riding this ride, tensing at the base of the first hill ready for a launch sequence complete with surrounding audio… Only to be slowly, anti-climatically dragged up a lift hill.

Our first ride was so damn mediocre I couldn’t believe this was the coaster that people were so excited about riding just a couple years ago, even when it had a launch. How could a ride be so heavily neutered and still maintain its reputation? Dunno, but the forceless meandering that was going on during our first ride felt like a wooden reflection of Big Bear Mountain across the park.

After completing the park and revisiting later in the day, a back row ride sparked some reconsideration from us. The quad down suddenly had become a lot more fun, but the first portion was still underwhelming and to be frank, kinda rough.

Another go round all the park and we found ourselves at the foot of Lightning Rod one more time at about 9:40pm. One go in the back, one go in the front, see if riding in the dark after a day of good ops and super hot weather has given it a chance to almost impossibly warm up to a degree where these huge elements in the first half actually do something.

Lo and behold, Lightning Rod finally, absolutely kicked our ass. Barrelling down that first drop in the complete blackness of the smoky mountain valley is genuinely terrifying and we found ourselves standing up in our seats and flying through elements that felt dull and un-necessarily drawn out during our rides earlier on in the day. Still rough, but suddenly the ride had gained a tenacious personality that was seriously fun.

Coming off rejuvenated we went back round once more for a front row ride. In the front the roughness was vacant. That wave turn had me in hysterics. Sideways air time? Inherently hilarious. You get shoved through all the elements. And watching the fireworks across the other side of the park as we flew through the quad down; just me, my mate and 2 teenagers in the back, was probably the most magical night ride I’ve ever had on a coaster.

Lightning Rod ended up being a truckload of fun and a pretty unique ride experience for me. It’s just so unbelievably inconsistent and needs a lot of time to warm up. Nonetheless I’m glad I’ve been able to ride it, even if it’s with a chain and not a launch. PS you get a great view of the park fireworks from the ride, so unless you’re really into drones and pyrotechnics, I recommend a ride on LR instead :)
 
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Happily exhausted after a day at both Holiday World and Kentucky Kingdom!

Reviews in order

Holiday World

The Voyage:
Wow…. A perfect rollercoaster. Arguably the best I have ever ridden. It has everything you can ask for - height, length, speed, power, airtime, unique elements…even the ride's sound hits. I was amazed by how the experience changed SO much depending on the seat. The front was almost glass smooth…a bit less airtime but an incredible feeling of speed. Back was reckless…almost too intense, thigh bruising at certain points. I rode a lot of great coasters today…this was vastly superior to any of the rest. 12/10

Thunderbird:
Great ride, powerful elements, punchy launch… heartline roll at the end was cool. Liked it better on the right side than the left. Not much more to talk about. It's not a world-changer, but I have no complaints. 8.5/10

Raven:
Caught me off guard. I was not expecting it to be nearly as fast or intense as it was. Surprising amount of airtime. Ripping through the woods elevates the feeling of speed. Second best ride in the park for me. 9/10

Legend
: Only got it once due to one train ops. I think I would have enjoyed it more knowing where to brace. Helix section had crazy lateral gs, almost uncomfortably so. Still, excellent elements, pacing, and an overall solid ride. I need to give it another look. 8/10
---
Kentucky Kingdom aka the surprise of the trip.

Lightning Run: What is this thing?? Some of the most ridiculous ejector airtime I have ever experienced. Almost painful at times. Surprise outer bank hill mid-ride was the winning element for me. I checked RCDB after my ride, and it made more sense when I found out it was a Joe Draves design. Down a notch just because I don’t think it’s particularly dynamic, especially with Storm Chaser a couple hundred feet away. 9/10

Thunder Run
: Another surprise. I was expecting close to nothing from this ride. Delivered quite well. Great pacing, some cool airtime moments. Pleasantly smooth. The layout leaves something to be desired, but that’s no fault to KK. Good job salvaging it. 7/10

Storm Chaser
: Another close to perfect RMC. I was blessed to lap it for an hour with zero queue. Barrel roll drop is awesome, every element is unique and dynamic, pacing and design are as perfect as can be. Rides fairly consistently front to back. Hard to argue that it matches the level of Iron Gwazi, Steel Vengeance, or Zadra, but man did they make something awesome out of what was available to them. Only critique is that it dies a bit around the final helix at the end. 10/10

Kentucky Flyer
: Hard to compare it against the larger format rides above but it did its job exceptionally well. Rating purely for ride style 8/10

Final stop at Kings Island tomorrow!
 
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Some reviews from my May 2024 Paris trip:

Toutatis - This was the whole reason I wanted to go back to France this year (I would've gone last year but I had to spend my vacation money in England instead), and after rushing to it on opening and waiting through a breakdown to get a chance to ride it, it did not disappoint. That said... I was hoping it would top Kondaa as my #1 coaster, and I feel it fell just a bit short of that admittedly lofty goal. I think for me it peaks just a bit too early (the triple launch is incredible and the dip before the top hat gives some bonkers ejector in both the front and back rows) and the rest of the layout, while still excellent, feels a tiny bit perfunctory as a result. I think the latter half is jam-packed with great elements that each would be the highlights on lesser coasters (I love the outerbank and the corkscrew that goes over the extended queue), but none were able to achieve the same "wow" feeling as I had during the triple launch. I think if the final few hills were a bit more powerful so it'd end on a killer finale then it'd be my #1 coaster, but unlike Kondaa's rapid-fire bunny hops leading into the brakes Toutatis's ending doesn't have the same urgency to it.

Speaking of peaking, Toutatis has sort of the same issue I have with Kondaa in that all the theming is focused around the station and walkway area, with the outer sections left rather barren and thus a lot less interesting from an aesthetic perspective. It's likely down to budget, and it's not as bad here since it's still surrounded by forest while Kondaa is in an empty field, but some extra rockwork to provide a few more head-choppers would've gone a long way.

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That said, the theming that is there is a significant step up from Kondaa, and the main plaza in particular is just a delight to behold. The soundtrack in the station does an excellent job of building you up for the experience (even if it doesn't have the threatening aura Kondaa's soundtrack has), and I'm always game for a coaster with a badass dispatch cue.

You may struggle to appreciate all those details on a busy day though because operations-wise the station is pure CHAOS. Not only do you have multiple staff members running past you constantly in tight and dimly lit corridors, but the way they handle loose objects just adds a lot of unnecessary stress. I deeply appreciate that the top two parks in the Paris area (Disney and Astérix) both have some of the fastest ops I've seen anywhere, but it's not so appreciated when messy baggage systems lead to everyone scrambling in a mad panic trying to get their affairs in order before the next train shows up. The entire cart system (which they retrofitted to Oziris as well) feels like a temporary solution at best, and I'm guessing it was done because having automatic bins on the ride platform either wasn't efficient enough or was causing too much confusion among guests. But in that case, they should've instead incorporated some sort of separate storage/locker area into the overall queue design, like on F.L.Y. or Velocicoaster. Given how long the ride's been in development, though, maybe this wasn't seen as an issue initially.

My quibbles with the ride aside, Toutatis is still one of my favourite coasters after multiple sessions on it. It's the world-class coaster that an excellent park like Astérix has always been missing, and every ride leaves you hungry to re-ride it five more times. It even got my brother, who is rarely one for extreme coasters, to give it a second shot after his first experience left him a bit shaken to the core. I'll be sure to make it a top priority whenever I return to Paris in the future, and it only leaves me more excited for the future of Intamin's next-generation coasters.


Tonerre 2 Zeus - Technically I got this credit back when it still ran with the CCI trains, but the Gravity Group makeover changed a lot about this ride, and I'd argue it's new enough of an experience to write a review about. I never got to ride the backwards seat before they switched it out for two forward-facing rows, but I'll happily take the trade-off with the added capacity. This tends to have some horrific lines whenever Astérix gets busy, and you do NOT want to be stuck in that boiler room of a queue on a hot day, trust me. Between the lack of shade and being surrounded by coaster track that heats up the air around it quickly, it might just be one of my least favourite queues for a major coaster. I'm both baffled and disappointed that this wasn't addressed during the makeover, as adding shade would've gone a long way towards improving the overall experience. The queue is also lacking in theming, which makes it one of Astérix's duller queues to stand in as well.

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As for the makeover itself, my biggest problem with the original was that the CCI trains struggled over the last few hills, making the finale a meandering bore. Apparently it wasn't always like that, but especially towards the end of its life it was really sagging. I'm happy to report that the Timberliners cruise through the new layout at a much faster pace, delivering some solid airtime on almost every hill even leading into the final turnaround. The overbanks are also a fun addition, and the lightning tunnel, while loud as hell, adds some kinectic energy to the latter half of the layout. Based on those factors alone, I'd argue this is a significant improvement over its predecessor and really shows what this layout is capable of.

I'd almost go as far as put it in my top 25 if it wasn't for one significant issue... and that's the Timberliners themselves. I praised their pacing earlier, and my problem isn't with the design of the trains. The seats are comfortable, and the restraint fits across your stomach without causing much trouble. My issue is they shake like MAD on any track that isn't brand new. The trains are extremely sensitive to any rough patch on the track, and will jostle you around to the point that it even hurts in a few spots. I don't understand how Gravity Group can put these on all of their coasters without ever addressing the jostling issue or at least do their best to mitigate it, because Tonerre 2 Zeus didn't feel any less shaky in 2024 than Twister at Gröna Lund did in 2016. It doesn't entirely kill the ride for me, but it is a significant drawback to what otherwise could've been a top-of-its-class experience. I did ride it a few more times in different seats to get a better feel for it, and I found the back rows to deliver the best experience in terms of airtime, but they were also the shakiest. Tonerre 2 Zeus is a real mixed-bag of a conversion for me, with a lot of highs, but also a pretty crippling low.


Avengers Assemble: Flight Force - I'd heard a lot of opinions of this do-over of Paris's Rock n' Rollercoaster, both in the positive and the negative, before I finally got to ride it this year. Despite having been to Disneyland Paris three times since the coaster first opened, it was only now that I was able to get the credit, as I was afraid of inversions back in 2005 and in 2021 it was closed for the re-theme. Having done all three versions of this layout now... I think this is the best one? At least I found it a lot more enjoyable than Xpress: Platform 13 at Walibi Holland, which was both rougher and felt meandering when there aren't any special effects to distract you from the layout just going in circles. I might have to get back on Florida's version to be certain, though. It's been a while.

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Your enjoyment may depend on how you feel about the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a whole, though. I enjoy the Marvel movies, despite their ups and downs, and so I was entertained by all of the sneaky references you could find in the queue line if you kept your eyes peeled. That said, theme-wise it does feel like corners were cut in a lot of places, and based on early concept art the original pitch seemed a lot more ambitious than this. The exterior is just a big blob of grey that probably looks way better at night than it does during the day (Walt Disney Studios Park closed at 9 P.M. so I didn't get to see it in the dark), and the interior queue mostly consists of corridors, some bland character posters, and the occasional sculpture or screen to keep you distracted. It's not a queue you'd want to get stuck in during a breakdown or a particularly busy day, but when I went the line never exceeded 15 minutes and was often much shorter than that, so I could at least blaze through it fairly quickly.

Because the line was so short, however, we were never held in the pre-show room and it was treated as just part of the normal queue. This was a bit of a shame since I think the star of the show has got to be the Iron Man animatronic, which I think is immaculate and is worth going on the ride at least once for. The pre-show was instead played on a loop as guests moved through the queue, which I guess is better than having it disabled altogether. I did think it was a bit strange how all of Tony Stark's dialogue was in French with no subtitles while almost every other character, Captain Marvel included, spoke in English. I assume they couldn't get Robert Downey Jr. to do the voice (they got Brie Larson to appear as Carol Danvers so I don't think it was them being cheap) and because Disneyland Paris is apparently mandated by the French government to have everything be bilingual (or so I've heard), having Tony speak everything in French was probably the easiest option. Having everything explained twice across two languages did slow the pacing a bit, and the whole bilingual thing is something I feel the Paris resort struggles a lot with (it's either having to stop to explain everything twice or missing out on crucial story information because you don't understand French), but treading that needle is admittedly never going to be easy.

Onto the ride itself. The launch does have some punch to it, but you don't feel much of it once you're past the initial kick and speeding into the gravity building. They apparently added a lot more lighting effects since opening, so the interior didn't feel as empty as it looked from initial POVs, but outside of a few show scenes of Iron Man and Captain Marvel flying about and blasting at Kree missiles, you are cruising through space most of the time. The trains had a bit of a shake to them, mostly during the sea serpent roll, but it was nothing I couldn't handle, and the train rode the track a lot smoother than Xpress as I said earlier. I do wish they replaced the trains with the new-gen trains like they did on Hyperspace Mountain instead of retrofitting the existing ones, as the old-school Vekoma restraints aren't the best for people with broad shoulders like me. I noticed that the onboard audio wasn't the most reliable either, with row 6 in particular having a lot of issues with the music cutting out constantly, but the audio was effective when it was working. My brother also enjoyed the coaster a lot (though he preferred Hyperspace Mountain) and hearing the Avengers theme as the train cruises through the break run and into the off-load platform did have me excited to ride it again. It's a fun ride overall, even if they could've done more in places. Especially towards the end of the day the queue is basically dead, so if you want a quick fix before heading over to Disneyland Parc for the fireworks this is a solid enough diversion, I feel. Not the resort's best attraction, but not the flop some were making it out to be either.


Speed Rockets - I love these little Gerstlauer bobsleds. Most larger parks would never go for them for capacity reasons, but I've never been on one that isn't rick-rollicking fun all the way through. Speed Rockets, while not shockingly intense like Van Helsing's Factory nor has the Wild Mouse-style layouts of Tiki-Waka or Thor's Hammer, is still a blast and worth going to Jardin d'Acclimatation for. It's a bit unassuming from the outside, but it packs a lot into its layout and it's just exciting enough to appeal to all ages without being too much for some or too little for others. A family coaster in the best sense, even if the asking price for individual rides is pretty steep for my liking. You may as well get the all-day wristband if you intend to ride it more than once.

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Just got home from my +3,000 mile road trip. Got a grand total of five new coasters and missed 2 (Top Thrill 2 and the Malibu Jacks Louisville SBF spinner, closed)

Big Bear Mountain was new for me and a whole bunch of fun! Shame they couldn't have saved any ofnthe trees in the ride area though, in a few years it'll be better, hopefully.

Kentucky Flyer was fun but kind of a let down compared to the other small GG woodies, it's also in time out in the park and definitely awkward getting to it.

Orion. Finally. It's fun for what it is...but still the weakest of the B&M gigas....and it's not even the best B&M in the park... GP seem to agree too, both Orion and Diamondback back had all 3 trains running but Orion never had a line out of the station.... Diamondback had at least half the queue filled every time we passed it 👀

And clearly the highlight of my CaroKingsCedarKingdomWood trip.... getting to ride the (formerly adults only??) GREAT PUMPKIN COASTER. Coming off Woodstock, the guy at the photo booth mentioned if we were looking for "credits" to go check it out too. I'd always been turned away on prior visits.

Oh, and I guess I didn't make a TwitX post, but I also did Snoopy's Soap Box Racers and it was fun and surprisingly forceful for a family/kid ride. Was my first time on a Vekoma family Boomerang as well.
 
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Uncharted: The Enigma of Penitence - Boy howdy, does Avengers Assemble look a whole lot better right about now. Uncharted: The Enigma of Penitence is the textbook definition of a mixed bag — a technological marvel of a coaster that's undercut by a disastrous execution from a theming perspective, where limited resources seem to have been spent in the completely wrong places, and an IP so poorly utilized you wonder why they even bothered and didn't just go with a generic adventure theme. The budget to make this what it aspires to be seems to have been outside of PortAventura's grasp, and so what you get is a half-finished experience where the main show building is so bafflingly overlit that you see basically everything along the course, including the stuff you shouldn't (you may not see anything in POVs, but in-person it is glaringly obvious). It's not like Disney and Universal are the only ones that can properly build an indoor coaster in the dark, so I don't know where the hell PortAventura went wrong with this one.

Let's start with the exterior. From a glance, it's honestly not bad. The main entrance looks unassuming enough so that it doesn't intrude with the rest of Far West, and the rockwork is actually pretty solid. The side of the building you see from the Western stunt show is a bit more flat, but given what they had to work with it could've been a whole lot worse.

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(from the front)

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(from the side)

They didn't seem to bother to theme the back of the building, however, and so from Costa Caribe all you see is a big, grey square that peeks out from above the trees. Not that it would've been necessary to theme it, and I'd much rather the budget be spent on more important stuff, but I felt it was worth pointing out.

Let's talk about throughput. PortAventura has never been known for having great operations, and Uncharted would struggle with throughput even if operations were a whole lot faster. I've heard horror stories of one train service on this ride from last year, but at least this time around they were running two at minimum. Towards the end of the day they even got up to three trains, and the queue was moving a lot quicker at that point. That said, this is a ride that everyone rushes to during the morning, so I don't understand why they don't have all three trains ready to go at that stage. Might be a maintenance issue.

With two trains, though, the line still really sags. I waited over ninety minutes from the entrance to the loading platform, and I wouldn't say it was worth it in the end. I guess it's good that the park thought to include an indoor queue long enough to store that many guests, as it would've been torturous to stay that long out in the sun, but I was still getting pretty fed up by the end of it.

Now, you might be asking: Why not use the Single Rider queue? Sure, you miss out on most of the theming, but at least you get on the ride a whole lot quicker?

Well, I’ve got some news for you — As of June 2024, the Single Rider queue is no more. It’s been replaced with an Express queue, and the only way to get an express pass for the ride is to go to one tiny machine in the corner and pay an exorbitantly high price for a single ride. You can’t even buy tickets in the app like you could for everything else at the resort. I seriously don’t understand why it’s done like this, for if that machine were ever to run into any issues (and PortAventura’s express pass machines aren’t the most reliable from my experience, both with the touchscreen facing issues and the slots not always accepting your card) then nobody's even going to be able to pay the 30+ euros they charge for a single ride. I thought the new operations director was supposed to improve things at the resort, not just make a bunch of lateral moves at best and some frankly boneheaded decisions at worst?

The Single Rider queue on Red Force is also gone, FYI. Not that it made much of a difference since it was placed in the worst spot possible, but it's still baffling how there seem to be so many cases of one step forward, two steps back at PortAventura right now. But I digress.

Now, for all of the ride's faults, the queue line actually is very impressive for a non-Disney/Universal queue. Though everything is in Spanish so I couldn't follow the plot clearly, there does seem to be a concentrated effort to build up the story for the ride and get people excited for what's ahead. The soundproofing is a bit lacking, though, so you're more likely to hear the echoes of everyone else in the queue shouting over you than anything that's said in the speakers or from the animatronics or screens you walk past. The Nathan Drake animatronic looks a bit wonky, as they seem to be going for a bizarre mix of both Tom Holland and the version of Drake that exists in the games, but it's acceptable given what I assume were major budget limitations. They even work in some sneaky references here and there, such as the logo for Naughty Dog (the lead developers of the Uncharted video games) found on the box that Nate stands on:

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After some exposition from Nate, you enter the darker portion of the queue, which features some decent surprises to keep you distracted while waiting in line. I enjoyed how morbid it got, including this scene of a corpse impaled by spikes dropping from the ceiling:

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Now, one thing PortAventura LOVES is switchbacks, much to my detriment. The queues for Shambhala and Dragon Khan are one gigantic cattle pen each. Red Force and Furius Baco are multitudes of slightly smaller switchbacks placed back to back, and even otherwise solidly themed rides like Flying Dreams and Sesame Street Street Mission suffer from this. Uncharted has two switchbacks in the first portion of the queue, both of which take about ten minutes each to get through, and then there's a bunch of smaller switchbacks scattered across the "cave" portion of the queue. It's not as bad as the aforementioned rides, but it is a bit disheartening to round a corner hoping you're near the end only to be greeted with even more switchbacks. The screens you're greeted with throughout the queue are decently implemented, and while the CG animation isn't the best, it's not the worst either. One of the screens wasn't working though (I believe it was the Chloe one that sets up the hallucinogenic gas), so it was a bit confusing when the lights suddenly went green all of a sudden.

And then finally you get to the loading bay. I'm not the biggest fan of those open shelves you have to place your bags in, as there's nothing stopping people exiting on the other side from just grabbing your stuff and hauling it, but it's a risk you have to take, I suppose. I believe it's the same style of Intamin trains as Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts, but I was kinda getting Revenge of the Mummy vibes from them, which honestly made me excited as I love that ride to bits. Leaving the boarding platform, the train turns to follow a solidly executed show scene where Nate I believe (it's kinda hard to tell) fires a rocket launcher at some pursuers behind the riders. If the entire ride was up to the quality of that setpiece, I honestly wouldn't have many complaints. The train then spins in a circle for whatever reason before entering the main gravity portion of the coaster...

...And it's ALL downhill from there. Now, purely as a tech showcase, Uncharted: The Enigma of Penitence is actually incredible. The sideways launches, the switch tracks, the way the train spins around to react to different show scenes (the reverse spike is a highlight moment where the train spins as it climbs upwards, having guests face the jagged ceiling right as it stalls) are a sight to behold all on their own. It's even a really fun layout to boot, filled with surprisingly snappy launches and even brief moments of airtime. I would've loved to have seen what a company like Disney or Universal could do with the tech should they get their hands on it (a re-imagined Revenge of the Mummy or an Avengers ride with this tech would be mind-blowing). Intamin cooked when it came to the bare bones of the ride experience, and I hope the Multi-Dimension coaster that's coming to Parc Astérix in 2028 can deliver an experience that's similar and hopefully surpasses it.

But "bare bones" is what describes most of the ride theming, and the overall execution is just awful. There's a grand total of I think four screens across the ride itself, when there easily could've been more if they really wanted to tell a coherent story. What's worse is that the practical effects they fill the space in between are of staggeringly poor quality, and are so poorly hidden by a show building where way too much light seems to be seeping through. Again, you don't see much of this in POVs, but it is really obvious when you see it with your own eyes. Was painting the surroundings black so light doesn't bounce off of them too much to ask? Was a few cardboard cutouts ala Revenge of the Mummy out of the realm of their budget? You have these Aztec demons flying around causing havoc, but you barely ever get to see them. It's all really sloppy and leaves a disappointing taste in your mouth after all that build-up and despite the ride hardware doing everything in its power to make up for it.

Then there's the integration of the Uncharted IP itself. I understand this was based on the 2022 live-action film and not the video games, but regardless of which version you're a fan of you're probably going to walk off of this disappointed, like my brother (who is a huge fan of the games) was. Was playing Nate's theme at the exit too much to ask? Did Sony put too many restrictions on the ride designers, or did PortAventura just not want to license the music? At least Flight Force is able to play the Avengers theme. At least Hyperspace Mountain gets to blare the Star Wars suite as you go into the launch tunnel. Revenge of the Mummy captures the fun but also frightening nature of the Brendan Fraser Mummy films almost to perfection. Uncharted does almost none of this. It's not because it's a Sony license either, as other IPs I've seen handed out to other parks have been executed much better. Heck, Merlin Entertainments has done a much better job with Ghostbusters and Jumanji than PortAventura's done with Uncharted. Jumanji: The Adventure at Gardaland looks like Rise of the Resistance compared to this.

And even disregarding the IP, they could've done so much better with the theming in general. I know PortAventura is capable of this, as Street Mission is on a league of its own in comparison. Even compared to other Intamin dark ride coasters, Studio Tour at Movie Park Germany feels much more complete, and that's a bunch of random setpieces strewn about inside a large warehouse. When Parques Reunidos is able to do a much better job than you, maybe it is time to reevaluate things.

And that's Uncharted: The Enigma of Penitence in a nutshell: A buffet of incredible ingredients that falls flat because one half of the equation took the easy and lazy way out. I was kinda hoping they would've addressed the complaints from last year and plussed the ride leading into this season, but that doesn't seem to have been the case. Given the lines it still sees on the regular, though, I doubt they'll see much reason to further invest in it anytime soon.
 
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The last two credits I got were at Cedar Point earlier this month. I hadn't been there in years, so there were some coasters I hadn't yet ridden. I missed out on Top Thrill 2 because it is down for now. Also missed out on Steel Vengeance as it also broke down when I was there. But I did get to ride Valraven and Gatekeeper.
First on Valraven: I have ridden all three (well, not Iron Menace at Dorney Park as it is the 4th) dive coasters in the US and by far Valraven is the weakest of all of them IMO. I had to double check RCDB on the heights of all of them and Valraven is still the tallest. Clearly height isn't everything. I just wasn't impressed with it. I love Griffin at Busch Gardens Europe, and I liked Sheikra at Busch Gardens Africa. Maybe it's because it is just sitting there on flat ground, out in the open... but then again, so are the rest of Cedar Point's coasters. For some reason I just didn't care too much for it.

Second, on Gatekeeper: I was fully expecting to be underwhelmed on this one, based on what I've heard. It is clearly a very picturesque coaster, with the key hole towers being right over the main park entrance. This was also my first B&M wing coaster as well. Surprisingly I found that I enjoyed the ride. While it isn't going to end up in my top ten coaster rank, it was an overall fun ride and also very re-rideable. If I want intensity, I can go ride Raptor (which makes me dizzy and I can't marathon that one). The only thing I didn't like about it I had to pull myself up into the seat. Being short (I'm 5'3") stinks when it comes to boarding certain coasters.
 
350: Mandrill Mayhem - this is the second launched wing coaster I've added to my count this month and it's a really cool little B&M. The capacity is probably the worst part of the ride. The standby moves so slowly thanks to all the Fast Track people. The ride is decently themed and I love going forwards and backwards. The mini launch has a nice little kick to it. The rollover and the twisted spike are probably my favorite elements. The twisted spike gives some decent hang so you feel like you're gonna fall out. The zero G gives you some decent hang time too.
 
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Dragon Roller Coaster
People's Choice Family Fun Center

10/10 Jkjk just a cheap powered coaster $3 ride that I didn't realize doesn't count until after I rode it. Was nice they let adults on. Strange place with some furniture being stored in the same building as the rides/games. Maybe it's still new.

Tiger Terror my #132 @ Safari Land
$5 ride this thing had a lot of whip for a small indoor kid size ride. I don't think too many smaller kids would like this one. I was 1 and done. Got the cred onto the next. By 3rd go around I was done.
 
Six Flags America's coasters.

They're sh*te.
Pretty much all of them. Utter sh*te.
There is literally nothing at this park worth the time and effort involved in coming here. Easily the dumpiest of the Six Flags parks I've been to. Flat, soulless, run down in many places, lots of tarmac, lots of unused plots, shoddy operations and, most importantly, sh*te creds. On paper, this place appears to tick all the boxes - hyper, looper, launcher, invert, flyer, 2 woodies, all from a nice, wide range of manufacturers, including B&M, Intamin, GCI and Premier. Sounds ok, right? But nah, sh*te.
In fact, the only reason me and DelPiero came here at all was because this was the cheapest place to buy a Six Flags season pass from. So, the plan was to grab our passes, cred-run this place as quickly as possible and then hop back over to Six Flags Great Adventure for the afternoon/evening. I know that sounds ambitious, but both of us had been to Great Adventure before, neither of us needed all the creds there so we could just grab the new stuff without any cred anxiety and get some nice rerides in on Ka, Toro and Nitro.
In hindsight, I wish we'd just paid the extra and spent the whole day at Great Adventure.
Six Flags America is really not a nice place to be. Couldn't wait to get out of there. Sh*tehole.
But let's focus on the positives shall we? It was a cheeky little +7, so that's quite good, and although most of the coasters here are trash, a couple of them of them are quite rare and, if I'm feeling generous, some could at least be described as 'interesting', so let's run through 'em.

Ragin' Cajun.
I mean... it's a relocated, Reverchon spinning mouse - a JASSM. That's pretty low, even by Six Flags standards. It's not themed, it doesn't even look like they've painted it, it's just been plonked there on a bit of tarmac, like something you'd see on a sh*tty promenade in Brighton or Barmouth. And yep, it rides pretty god-damn awful too, just like all the other JASSM's.

Wild One.
Except... it's not really that wild, is it? It's a grotty looking, crappy old white woodie off of the 1980's. Prior to that it was originally built in 1917, has been partially burnt down a couple of times and was then relocated here in '1986. And boy, it shows.
Not very tall, not very fast, no real airtime to speak of and rough as arse when you ask it to go round a corner. Sh*te.

 Firebird.
Yet another relocation from Six Flags Great America, most notable for being the very first B&M roller coaster. But that's the only notable thing about it. Originally a stand-up coaster but recently converted to floorless, it's... well it's just not very good is it? I suppose when it was new it might have compared well to the Arrows, Vekomas and Schwarzkopfs of the day... but that was over 30 years ago. Things have most definitely moved on since then. Nowadays it just feels short, shonky, headbangy and kinda pointless. 4/10

 Batwing.
Vekoma Flying Dutchman. Widely considered to be one of the most horrendous coaster models out there and yeah, they do have their flaws: the loading procedure is slow and laborious, the throughput is bad, you might find yourself on your back on the brake run, slowly sizzling under a glaring sun for prolonged periods of time and yeah, they ain't the smoothest but you know what? I kinda dig 'em. I certainly don't hate them as much as everyone else seems to, and I'd take one of these over a Volare any day of the week. It's a big, fast, impressive ride, man, with a great layout, some decent forces, and some unusual elements.
I first heard about the Vekoma flying coaster in 2002 when I discovered RCDB and I remember thinking at the time 'Aw man, I wish Air had a layout like that', and that still holds true today. A new B&M flyer with this layout would be fabbbb!
Imma give it a 5/10. There's much, much worse out there.

Joker's Jinx.
Another fairly rare coaster, it's a Premier spaghetti bowl, like the Flight of Fear coasters at KI and KD but outdoors and with no theme. Oh wait, I tell a lie - there may have been a cardboard cutout of the Joker near the entrance and the track is painted purple, but as far as theming goes, that's yer lot.
1 train operations with 4 seats on that one train taped off and out of use. Urrgh! Burdenous.
Coaster is... alright, I guess. Launch is ok, first couple of inversions ain't bad and it rides fairly smoothly, but after that it just kinda meanders round the remainder of the layout doing not very much at all. Not exactly offensive, but not particularly memorable either. 5/10.

Superman - Ride of Steel.
Ahh now then, surely a massive Intamin hyper coaster, with 5300ft of track and a 200ft+ drop will make this day a little more worthwhile?
Well... nah, not really. It's alright. It might be an Intamin hyper but it's one of the very early ones and it really shows its age, the layout and ride experience are indeed very bland. Kondaa this ain't.
First drop is pretty good and there's a couple of decent airtime moments towards the end but there's an awful lot of long, straight sections of track that do absolutely nothing, as well as a couple of wide, flat, forceless helices that add zero to the ride. I hear some riders like to liven it up a bit on the straight sections by playing rock-paper-scissors in between elements!
For me it's probably the best ride in the park (just), but still not worthy of any more than a 5 out of 10.

Finally we have Roar, a CGI woodie but don't get too excited, it's one of the older ones off of the 90's and it's... not great. Decent length I suppose and it maintains its speed quite well, but the layout doesn't really have any memorable moments, very little airtime and most of the ride is rough and rattly, despite some recent retrack work. 5/10.

That's everything we rode. There's a kiddy cred too but we didn't even see that, and even if we did see it, I don't think we would have been arsed enough to ride it - we just wanted to get out of there at this point.
There's an SLC too, which was closed at the time and I mistakenly thought was closed for good but nope, it apparently reopened recently with a new name.
Phew, dodged a bullet there, eh?

Nah man, overall a rubbish park with a really weak coaster selection. It's more of a dumping ground for out of date stock than a theme park, a cred retirement home, the place where old Six Flags coasters go to die. Can fully understand why it gets such a bad rep.
We may have saved a few bucks on our season pass and gained a cheeky lil +7 but honestly, I don't think it was worth it.
When the best ride at a park can only muster a 5/10 then you know it's just not gonna be worth it.
Never mind, that afternoon would lead us to much greater things...
 
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Fenix at Toverland (#290) - I was told this was a strong albeit shorter wing coaster, but unfortunately a consistent bounce throughout the entire layout made me not like this coaster as much as I wanted to. read more

Meanwhile, Troy (#291) didn't do much to help either, with a middle row ride also rattling pretty badly and throwing me around quite a bit (in the bad way). Left what I thought would be my favourite coaster of the trip with a somewhat bad taste in my mouth. read more

Hyperia at Thorpe Park (#293) is a super fun but super short hyper coaster - my second ever lift hill hyper coaster. While all of its elements are great, some didn't hit quite as hard as initially hoped with a rattle negatively complimenting the ride's valleys. read more

Minifigure Speedway at Legoland Windsor (#294 and #295) is by far the most intense ride at the park with surprising positives, but is unfortunately severely let down by its lack of theming and seemingly careless amounts of effort and passion put into it. read more
 
Six Flags America's coasters.

They're sh*te.
Pretty much all of them. Utter sh*te.
There is literally nothing at this park worth the time and effort involved in coming here. Easily the dumpiest of the Six Flags parks I've been to
Yep, I pretty much agree with this entire post, except that the Flying Dutchman was bad, not the worst one though.
And that while a full day at Great Adventure would have been nice, gotta get those creds.
 
351. Iron Menace - solid dive machine that's surprisingly smoother than most of B&Ms recent offerings apart from the one jolt at the end of the ride. I hope that jolt doesn't become worse as the ride ages. It's not as forceful as Emperor, the vests do impede any airtime you get, and the operations are super slow for a B&M. The layout makes up for that though. I love these longer, less gimmicky dive machine layouts better than the 200+ foot ones.

352. Woodstock Express - standard Zamperla kiddie coaster model. The ride runs smooth but there are a few awkward elements that throw you around a bit. I do like that it runs 3 times vs the usual 2 you get on these kiddie coasters.
 
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